Christopher Hitchens: Bah, Humbug on Christmas [Updated 12/19/2011]

UPDATE 12/19/2011: When journalist Christopher Hitchens died on December 15, 2011 he was soon followed in the grave by North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il, a loathsome figure whose atrocities Hitchens spent a fair amount of time of documenting. Given the proximity in time of their deaths, Reason is happy to re-release this 2007 featuring Hitchens' dramatic reading of Tom Lehrer's "Christmas Song." Taped at Reason's DC headquarters before a crowd of about 150 people, Hitchens begins his performance with a peroration about one-party states in North Korea--and North America.

On Monday, December 17, 2007 Reason hosted a "Very Special, Very Secular Christmas Party" at its Washington, D.C. headquarters.

The evening's special event was a dramatic reading of Tom Lehrer's "Christmas Carol" by Christopher Hitchens, author of God Is Not Great, Why Orwell Matters, No One Left to Lie To, and many other books.

"It may have struck you, ladies and gentlemen, that there's a big relationship between this marvelous time of year and living in a one-party state," Hitchens told the overflow crowd of 250. "You can't go anywhere without listening to the same music. You can't go anywhere without hearing the name of the Great Leader, and his son, the Dear Leader....All broadcasts, all songs, all jokes, all references are, just for that magic few weeks, just exactly like living in...North Korea."

We at reason celebrate the holidays in many different ways (some of us not at all) and extend our best wishes to all for a joyous and happy new year.